Expand WAFS Plug-in

WIDE AREA FILE SERVICES (WAFS)

WAFS Plug-in Overview

Wide Area File Services (WAFS) projects go a long way towards cost reduction, simplification, continuity, and even regulatory compliance. However, simply removing the remote file servers and serving all files from the central server is almost certainly a plan for failure. In order to realize all of business benefits of WAFS, steps must be taken to deal with the WAN. File services using CIFS are particularly susceptible to latency, and compared to the LAN, the WAN will bring plenty of latency. Not only performance, but remote file servers often host other services necessary for the remote office. The cost savings of reclaiming remote file server hardware will not be possible if the hardware needs to continue supporting other local services.

Complementing all of the other Compass technology, Expand's WAFS solution is a simple software upgrade plug-in available for any of the WAFS-Ready Accelerators. This combination of technology enables not just a file acceleration point solution, but a complete WAFS solution that considers the entire application environment.

File Services Over the WAN with LAN-like Performance

Expand's WAFS plug-in solves the problems of poor file service performance over the WAN, and when complemented with the rest of the Compass technology delivers a complete WAFS solution. With intelligent caching and sophisticated CIFS acceleration, Expand's WAFS plug-in enables phenomenal file performance over the WAN, while seamlessly maintaining all security and user controls that are part of the Domain. Add in protection against congestion with WAN Optimization and this performance is guaranteed in even the most extreme conditions.

Uninterrupted Productivity

File server consolidation, when accompanied with WAFS optimization, will deliver the performance needed for productive end users. But what happens when the WAN is down? Will productivity vanish as well? Not with Expand. Expand's unique WAN-Out capabilities will allow remote office users to continue to access files from Expand even when the WAN is out. Serving any of the automatically cached files while keeping the Domain control in place ensures that WAN outages will not prevent file access, nor cause a security hole from unauthorized file access. As many file servers also host the remote office print and DHCP services, Expand's plug-in will also replace these services, so the file server can really be removed.

WAFS Plug-in Specifications by Accelerator

Expand's WAFS plug-in is licensed per Accelerator according to the number of unique file users. Here are the maximum numbers of users supported by the WAFS-Ready Accelerators:

• Accelerator 4920: 200 users
• Accelerator 6910: 500 users
• Accelerator 6940: 1,000 users
• Accelerator Cluster: 2,500 users

WAFS Checklist

It is always a good idea to cover the bases when planning your WAFS projects.

• Mitigate the effects of latency on file services (CIFS and TCP acceleration).
• Mitigate the unreliability of the WAN link (WAN-Out services and TCP acceleration).
• Increase the effective WAN bandwidth (compression).
• Control congestion on the WAN (QoS).
• Monitor the health of applications on the WAN (application & network visibility).
• Replace other needed remote office services (virtual servers package).
• Work with existing Domain security (SMB signatures).

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